About The Magenta Project

Our Mission

The Magenta Project are a collective of passionate sailors committed to creating equal access and opportunities for women in sailing and to working with a wide range of individuals and organisations to make that happen. It was started in 2015 by members of the all female ‘Team SCA’ who successfully competed in the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race campaign. We are a not for profit organisation currently in the process of obtaining charitable status in both the UK and USA.

Our Vision is:

“To be the worldwide organisation that enables women to have equal access and opportunities in the sport of sailing”.

Our core activities include:

Enabling opportunities for women in sailing through on water training, learning and development opportunities e.g. foiling clinics, race boat experience. We also support career/skills development schemes and events and STEM activities in the marine industry

Building networks and relationships that connect individuals and organisations and enable sailing knowledge, experience and opportunities to be shared

Raising awareness of women in sailing and celebrating their successes and achievements.We also illustrate the need for change in sailing, provide solutions and share evidence of what works, influence/advise on policy and offer support to event and race organisers to introduce change initiatives.

We deliver our mission by:

Upskilling athletes to enable them to reach the top of their sport;

Inspiring generations of female racing sailors; and

Driving change in the sailing industry.

We encourage all our supporters and everyone in the sailing industry to join with us to make sailing a fully equal sport by having mixed gender crews; providing equal access and opportunities for women within professional sailing and as they learn and progress through the sport; sharing knowledge, skills and experience with female sailors and helping to support and fund the work that we at the Magenta Project do.

Background

In the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race, there was only one all-female team in a seven-boat fleet taking on the longest and most grueling endurance event in the sport of sailing. In the early hours of June 11, 2015, Team SCA crossed the finish line first in Leg 8 of the Volvo Ocean Race creating history and sending waves across the sailing world. Ours was the first female team in 25 years to win a leg and secure third position overall in the stadium-style, in-port racing.

What began with our ambition to be competitive at the highest level, resulted in providing inspiration to an enormous base of fans and female sailors across the globe. To continue the legacy, we formed The Magenta Project, a collective of passionate, committed female athletes showcasing sailing as one of the few sports where women can compete directly against men on a level playing field.

Since completing the Volvo Ocean Race, The Magenta Project has lead a growing movement. Our message has been heard by key figures at the top of the sport, resulting in recent rule changes to encourage female participation on the World Match Racing Tour, The Extreme Sailing Series and The Volvo Ocean Race.

Being part of the Magenta Project means we can accumulate as much power & voice as possible for women’s sports, especially female sailing. So that we can raise the general awareness around the world in order to create more opportunities for women.